by PNA
On December 27, 1897, General Emilio Aguinaldo and 25 other revolutionary leaders sailed for Hongkong from Sual, Pangasinan, on board the steamer Uranus, in compliance with the terms of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato.
Aguinaldo, with his men in voluntary exile in Hongkong as part of the peace agreement of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato by Pedro Paterno, also volunteered to be a peace maker as early as August 9, 1897 with the basis of reforms and amnesty.
Accordingly, Spanish Governor Primo de Rivera realized the impossibility of quelling the revolution by force of arms contrary to his premature proclamation on May 17, 1897 that the “revolution is overâ€.
Gen. Aguinaldo's forces were driven from Cavite to Bulacan and declared the constitution and inaugurated the Republic of Biak-na-Bato on November 1, 1897.
Hence, negotiations with Aguinaldo, which specified that the Spanish would give self-rule to the Philippines within three years if Aguinaldo went into exile, began in August and concluded in December with the Pact of Biak-na-Bato.
Also, under the pact, Aguinaldo agreed to end hostilities as well in exchange for amnesty and 800,000 pesos (Filipino money) as an indemnity. He and the other revolutionary leaders would go into voluntary exile. Another 900,000 pesos was to be given to the revolutionaries who remained in the Philippines, who agreed to surrender their arms; general amnesty would be granted and the Spaniards would institute reforms in the colony.
However, both the Spanish and Filipino authorities failed to follow the terms of the pact, of the total war indemnity of P1.7 million only P600,000 was actually paid by Spain -- P400,000 was given to Aguinaldo and P200,000 was distributed among the revolutionary leaders in the Philippines.
The rest of the indemnity, amounting to P1.1 million, was never paid. Many of the Filipino patriots who had surrendered their arms and returned to their homes were arrested, imprisoned, and persecuted, contrary to the amnesty proclamation, and not one of the reforms which were believed to have been promised by the governor general was granted.
For their part, Filipinos were equally guilty of breaking the terms, as Aguinaldo kept the money in the banks of Hong Kong to be used in a future struggle against Spain. Revolutionist in the Philippines did not surrender all their arms.
Notably, while in Hong Kong, Aguinaldo watched closely the developments in the Philippines and kept the P400,000 and his compatriots designed what is today the Philippine national flag.
The revolution took only a little holiday, a holiday cut short by the arrival of a new power -- the United States of America.
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